For years now, our house addition has been nothing more than a thought and a dream. Matt and I have talked about it as a long-term plan that we’ll do one day, but the talk never seemed to move beyond that.
Until recently. Over the last month or so, we’ve really, seriously been talking about it and trying to plan for it. And the reason we’re finally getting serious about it is because, after nine years of working on this house, I’m finally down to the last two room in our home as it currently stands.
Here’s how that looks right now. The pink rooms are finished. (The bathroom before and after post is coming! I promise!) The white rooms still need to be finished. The dark gray rooms will be torn down.
So as far as interior rooms go, I’m down to the home gym and my studio, which will include a small makeover in the studio half bath.
Once the sunroom and original (tiny) master bathroom are torn down, here’s what we’re wanting to add in the orange…
As we’ve talked about it, we’ve come up with two different options. And to be quite honest, I’m not sure which direction I’m leaning right now. I can see pros and cons for both of them.
Option 1: Build ASAP.
Our initial thought was to build the addition ASAP, as in, start getting everything lined up so that we can start building in the spring or as soon as the weather permits.
That way, when I’m done with the studio, the addition would be done to the point that I’d take over and start on the finishes, just like I did with the bathroom. With the bathroom, our contractor and his guys did all of the electrical, plumbing, wall building/moving, subfloor, and drywall. Then I took it from there and finished out the room. So I’m thinking that’s how we’d do the addition as well.
The obvious “pro” with this option is that the house would be done sooner, and then we could sit back and enjoy it…all of it…including a deck in the back yard off of the master bedroom and family room. I can’t wait for that, because right now, we don’t use our back yard at all since there’s really nothing back there to make it enjoyable.
And the sooner we get it done and have all of that extra room (including the deck out back), the easier it will make hosting friends and family. Right now, things feel a little squished when we have a crowd over. It sure would be nice to be able to spread out a bit more.
But the obvious “con” with this option is burnout. I’ve been going at this pretty much by myself for nine years now. I’m definitely starting to slow down (12-hour work days are no longer my norm like they once were), and I don’t feel burned out at this point. In fact, I feel very excited about getting these last two rooms finished. I just don’t want to reach the point of burnout, because recovering from that can be very difficult.
Option 2: Wait until spring 2024.
The thinking behind this option is that at some point (hopefully) within the first half of next year, I will have all of the rooms in our house (as it currently stands) finished. Finished! All of the rooms will be finished for the first time in nine years. It will be the first time in our 20 years of marriage that we could live in a home with all of the interior rooms completely finished.
And part of me thinks it would be so nice to just be able to enjoy that for a little while before starting a big addition. I’d still have plenty to do. The carport has never been completely finished and painted. The stone skirting on the front porch needs to be finished. Plus, the whole front porch could stand a bit of a refresh with some new paint on the ceiling, a fresh coat of stain/sealer on the porch, etc. And with my studio finally finished, I could cook up an infinite number of projects in there to keep my creative juices flowing.
So the plan in general would be to finish the interior rooms that we currently have during the first half of the year, then take a breather for the second half of the year and just enjoy having a totally finished home (on the inside) while taking care of some unfinished projects outside and enjoying my finished studio. And then at the beginning of 2024, we’ll start on the addition.
The “pro” with this option is that we’d have a totally finished interior for a while. No huge inside projects inside, no tools and paint cans spread about, and a break from sawdust inside the house. That would be quite a change!
The “con” is that it would take longer to get to our long-term goal. That means continuing to be squished when we have people over. That means putting off being able to enjoy our back yard, grill outdoors, etc. And it means that we’d be longer in our small bedroom, which is starting to feel smaller with each passing day. (Normal sized rooms start to feel quite small when dealing with mobility for a wheelchair-bound person.)
So those are the two options we’re considering. Both of them sound good to me, but only one can win out. If I were forced to make a decision right this minute, I would say I want the addition built ASAP. But if Matt were to forced to choose today, he’d choose the second option to give me a little bit of a break and some breathing room before jumping into an addition with both feet.
But at the end of the day, he’s okay with either option (his only concern is me getting burned out), so it really will come down to what I choose. *Sigh*
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
I hope you’ll join me on my DIY and decorating journey! If you want to follow my projects and progress, you can subscribe below and have each new post delivered to your email inbox. That way you’ll never miss a thing!
